Snippet #2507456

Lavender arms clung around a very worried Molerat, lured to the large sleeping form by curiosity and captured by a Nighkin's unconscious loneliness. Frightened biting did nothing against the thick skin, the minimal damage and thrashing ignored in the Nightkin's deep sleep instilled by both hard work and booze. Eventually, after an hour of unsuccessfully trying to escape from iron clutches, the Molerat conceded and layed still.

Just inside the metal wall protecting the settlement of Aegis layed the regal-colored giant, a mutant by the name of Roland Brave. Underneath the temporary roofing that protected his makeshift smithy was him and the entirety of his belongings; weapons and tools collected over a long history of both bloodshed and madness. How he had loved those days, how he regretted them.

A Flamer, modified to create a smaller, hotter flame, laid unlit next to a makeshift forge constructed from cinder blocks to keep in the heat and charcoal to maintain it. Tools lay atop a small table next to a stool, both beside a makeshift anvil created from a piece of steel I-beam. At Roland's feet lay his poncho and hat, folded neatly and as cleanly as allowed by the dirt ground of the wastes. Nearby lay his bag, inside which held the minutia required by his day to day activities. On top layed his riot shotgun, a weapon nearly as old as himself and similarly labeled. "Mariposa" was stamped on it's barrel, specially crafted long ago for a mad man's war that never came thanks to the work of chosen warriors. Near that, leaning against one pole of the makeshift roof, laid a Nuke Breaker. So named for it's prior nature as a neon sign advertising Nuka-Cola, Roland had since removed the broken bulbs and welded silver lettering to say 'Bite Me' as a replacement and filled the interior with Scrap Metal to create a rattle fit for giant's infant.

As dawn approached Roland stayed blissfully asleep in ignorance of the coming light. He would not awaken until alerted by his cohorts in manual labor, other workers from Aegis allowed to sleep closer to the center of town if only because of their less monstrous appearance. He did not blame the distrust but still preferred the use of a good bed-spring mattress to only a bit of thick rug between him and hard ground.

Sleeping, Roland dreamed of unkind visions and creatures much more frightening than he. Of a friend now dead and new faces with sorrowful madness behind their eyes. He shivered, loosening his grip on the Molerat imprisoned in his unconscious state. Sensing the moment, the Molerat lunged forward and escaped, running out the hole in the fence from whence it came. It would no longer trust large, purple, snoring forms for as long as it would live.